Bottle carrier



j Oct. '19, 1943. J. NEMETZ BOTTLE CARRIER Filed Jan. 22, 1941 PatentedOct. 19, 1943 1:

STATES PATEN KQFFI CE H 2,ss2,001: r r a a BOTTLE Q 7 J l s Nemetz, itbl mraim n isaiihh 'Janha vl 22, 941! Sriai N 31 498 is G'laims.(01.224-487;

hvehtic re a e to. improved devic tor arryin ami holdin a l rali fcontams sh. a rQw-hecked. b tles u e cl for s dr nk an thea, I t V v tits h hmhh. wa iqe qr a c hsumer to pursh se rsi e hments ,dr aas noainquanti y lo s su h as three Q s abot ss a a time: Be ause f he, f ihhlthandlin a d arry n a quan- I 'ig. a persbective vievv of the ir veritior-ip a c l a sed osi iqn;

2 h e-.4 is a vi w 9 1th? l ne 47- of F g-13 i iusrat nsh w aplialitmtcarriers ma besta ked 'ti y 99 bot les rr ers ar o ten av 19 h EQlYQ li QGQ 0f he. purc aser. Norma the Pr ced re i or he. purchaser o paya dehqs 11 11 bqtt t l i hh re iv n them fr m th @00 or the etail r anap o a re und HPQn. th ir re ii han event, he mp bqt l ar usuall reurned nd t has. imp rta nt to provide a earrier that, will beserviceable 91 a l h l n ident. to e se nd retu n Q ttle as it i to t e;hrq ase t e o In the ast these carriers have comm0nly been made .of a.ma e su as ardboa d t at is su t to dama d s ruq eh s ch 'thrch h a pt omo s ur or tear ng thr ugh handlin he o wh ch. sa t o t m nate theusefullite Qi he a r tur ed renderrieravoided these diflicql -ties and weresuitable for c n nued use a t i retur t obvious y w ul e o mesh reaterbe efit to the n: mt r. an t ls t SQ a he att r o s rv eh trifi h f that tim the emp b ttl s ab li y app a ahh and ep a m s e ch p rhs t ishareiqr t the r nci al bje ihiy n en n to. rov de n imprqved t e ear i ia rel ively inexpensive and: imp h fle ns ruc on hat. w l ith tand e t diia h dlihe an w l retain i s eat appearance. v

h t b i ct, f my ihveht h. st pro de a bottle carrier fora plurality ofbottles; that holds h h 't es fi m n. ih e rhest e a to reduce breakageand noise ineider t to their bhmp h q h A r fi i q isht of my; inven ioi o ro i e ah t s carrier'of a ar iqea lc. ahcid ra e p tha y he b la sd qr s a k n in a li i ed siaacewhile in storage or shipment.

nactive r aca It a s ah b e of m n n ion too r v d a 6mm hiF hen, fi ldw th i s omp e t of bottles, opclipies a space substantially equivalenttothat' occupied by the bottles themselves, for storage, display andshipmentin a minimum of space, and "can be, stacked with like. carriers, w a n h her o ran p r o or is Pla .-v

Other objects of my invention such as itsaglaptap'ili ty for display pirp os eswill appear from the fqllowir g description ar d figures,wherein; j re s a and. ev ti of ha mbhdk t t! m inv h h. adapte f r ca a'qhhb e row b kett es; I 25%.? isasid WaLt gd vihe V "ing the capacity(it each of one hr onth other;

. sis anoe d elevati n c ith ff lnociifi ati n i 1 .Eteierrihs to, he e'ho imeht f y nven ion shQwh; h ss. .1 9 wh ch s ecia y adapted or s iismaller b e age bot es. s or 351 39 3 he s andarsi. $25 eight or welvounce bottles, the bottom isformed of three wire m mbers 1, Bah?! 9; thefirst hflwhivh defines .1 nil ratiqhq EhQh tQI-Q ll0 2l1$i50f a ingl wthv mcmbelfwhh h en s are Secured heeth b msthq 119. 1. s @Qkifih I1 Wre member? is en rally. hblq n Shh-he a d h s end portions II and I2which are inelined up-. wardl yv to form an angie slightly more than wth de ails H and l oi-the membe e bottom members 8 and Q have their endportions bent upwardlyat the same degree o f'angularity, theiren dsbeing sec regto the 6 9 8131809 5 of the end portion H am, I b mean si'c as l e Th s e em e s eons sto nve t d generally U-shaped wirepiecesl5 and I6 whose lower end portions are looped arolir d side rails I73"and M, respectively, adjacent the end portions II and I2, as show nat I1and l 8 to permit swin able movement with respect to the side rails.This hinge mo e n f. the s de mem er and I 5 th respect to the bottoirpern its the device t xbe hh l p i i. a ndicated n. 3 so t t a ua biPYhi. 7. 1? c th a rtiha relat on as sh w in fQ shi ihePh Pos s r o t ae t a t 'ahs aw ishth end. ortio H d make "th-thes ide rails l3 a isslightly more than 90, permits the'ihterfitting of these bott m; as hwn-by the 45 f t t apparent r m this that a. eonsiderable number ofcarriers may e s ked thin a. mi edsn he, n twit st n theizi'to receivesix ot l in he qse ns tiom 'i hist t i Fi s, 1 ar1d2.

The rail construction of the bottom and of the side members I5 and [6'provides a carrier that outwardly and inwardly; respegtively,

carriers maybe stacked one uponl the The, fact are set within thecarrier and the side members I5 and I6 are moved to the closed position,the retaining members 24 and 25 will be tensioned In Figs. 5 and 6 thereis illustrated a carrier suitable for the reception of a single row ofbottles, more especially for larger sizes such as the twenty-four,twenty-six and thirty-two ounce bottles, the construction of thisembodiment being substantially as that described above. The bottom I isof a narrow dimension so as to ac- ".Icommodate only a single row ofbottles and it against the bottles, as at 21, to hold them snugly' andfirmly within the carrier. The use of broad strips as retaining members24 and 25 gives greater stability to the bottles within the carriersince they may engage the bottles at various vertical positions.

The configuration of the side members I5 and I6 permits the carrierwithin the closed position, to occupy a space substantially thatoccupied by the bottles. In this connection, it will be noted that thebottoms of the bottles, such as shown at 28, will project beyond thewidth of the carrier bottom, and the overall height dimension of thecarrier is substantially the same as the height of the bottles 26. Thispermits the stacking of loaded carriers, one upon the other, and in aspace substantially equal to the space that would be occupied by thebottles themselves so that the stacking space required is held to aminimum. The outer surfaces of the retaining members 24 and 25 lendthemselves to effective display advertising of the contents of thecarrier, so that the customer may be advised as to the merits of thedrink, its trade name, generic designation, or whatever the seller deemssuitable. parent that loaded carriers provide a substantiallyunobstructed view of the bottles within, and also of the labels thereon,for more effective display purposes.

A central panel 29, in this instance of thin sheet metal, is swingablysuspended by spaced upwardly projecting arms 3I and 32 from thecrosspiece 33 of side member I6, the ends of V the arms 3I and 32 beingcurled around the crosspiece. The spacing of the arms SI and 32 permitsthe crosspiece 33 with the crosspiece 34 of side member I5 to form a'compound handle which may be'grasped for carrying. As is clear fromFigure 1, the panel 28 serves as a divider for the double row of bottlesto reduce the likelihood of bottle breakage through glass to glasscontact, and to reduce endwise shiftingof adjacent rows of bottles withrespect to one another. Ears 35 are struck up from the panel 29 todivided the carrier into individual bottle compartments whereby adjacentbottles within the same row are prevented from making contact with oneanother, thereby reducing rattling and the breakage hazard. When thecarrier is only partially filled with bottles, they will be preventedfrom toppling within each row because of the compartments formed bytheears 35; Y

A lock 36 consisting of a horizontally disposed hooked-shaped pieceintegral with the crosspiece 34 is provided. When the side walls I5 andI6 approach the closed position, they are tensioned from one another bythe resistance imparted by retaining members 24 and 25. The lock 36 ishooked around the crosspiece 33 while under this tension to fasten theside members I5 and I6 securely togethenas well as firmly hold thevbottles within the carrier to prevent rattling and breakage. The lockis released by forcing the crosspieces 33 and 34 together to permittheunhooking of the lock 36;

It is apr requires but a single member 8'. Side members I5 and I6 aresimilar to those already described except that they are designed toterminate at a point immediately below the bulbous portion 31 of thebottle 26'. Two lock members 38 and 39 are provided each having theconfiguration of lock 36 and being interspaced with respect to thebottles, as shown by Fig. 6. Each of the lock members 38 and 39 areformed integrally with the crosspiece 34' and are locked to thecrosspiece 33' through the hooking arrangement already described. Inthis construction the side members I5' and I6 are tensioned against thebottles 26', as at 4| and 42, and, in addition, the bottles aregrippedbeneath the bulbous portion 31 by the crosspieces 33' and 34. Theuse of spaced locks 38 and 39 assures that the bottles will be heldfirmly at their top portions and that there will be no toppling of thebottles in a partially filled carrier. It is clear that the carrierswhen filled can be stacked in a space substantially that of the bottlesthemselves, and when empty a number of them may be stacked in a limitedspace in a collapsed position after the method described. For handlingpurposes, the loaded carrier may be grasped by inserting the fingersbetween the tops of the bottles and using the crosspieces 33 and 34 as acompound handle.

Special attention is directed to a further and important advantage of myimproved construction, in that it functions to materially reduce thecost of distribution of beverages of this type both as to labor andmaterials. In distributing the bottled beverages to retail dealers,particularly where the commodity must be moved by truck, it is necessaryfor the bottler to insert the bottles into wooden cases commonly holdingtwenty-four or twelve bottles, depending upon the size of the bottle.These cases are customarily provided with collapsible paper or cardboardseparators which act to separate the bottles in the case. In this waythe bottler is enabled to place -case upon case in the truck, and tothus assemble a truck load within a commercially feasible space. When soarranged the cases as indicated at 43 and 44 in Fig. 7, rest upon eachother at their edges, the side walls of the cases being slightly widerthan the height of the bottles, and therefore the weight of thesuperimposed cases is taken by the box as distinguished from thebottles. It is then necessary for the bottler or distributor, uponreaching the retail establishment, to remove the bottles frOm the casesand place them in the carriers for delivery to the retailer. This icustomarily done by the driver of the truck, and consumes a considerableamount of time in the delivery of the commodity to the retaller.Furthermore, it necessitates the use of both paper separators in thecase and of carriers in the process of distribution of the commodity. Itwill be seen that I have constructed the carrier herein disclosed insuch manner that the requisite number of carriers can be inserted intothe case by the bottler and, as the bottle capping operations proceed,the bottlesv can be directly assembled in a single operation into boththe carriers and the cases. To accomplish this,

the carriers are assembled in the cases with the locks 36 left unlatchedso that the side walls l and I6 occupy a slightly expanded position.This permits the bottles to be freely slipped into the carriers, andtherefore the carriers are latched together to confine the bottles asheretofore described. It will be seen that the overall height of thecarriers is no greater than that of the bottles themselves so that theentire unit consisting of a carrier and its enclosed bottles, will restcompletely within the confines of the cases so that the cases can bestacked in the same manner as though the carriers were absent.

I claim:

1. A carrier made essentially of wire for holding a plurality of narrownecked bottles such as those employing a crown cap comprising incombination a wire bottom member having a generally elongated shape andof a width substantially less than that of a pair of bottles for the useof which the carrier is intended, said bottom member having an outerframe comprising an upwardly extending end portion at each end thereofto serve as abutment members to prevent endwise displacement of thebottles, marginal wires along each side disposed beneath the bottles andat least one wire piece interconnecting the end portions intermediatesaid marginal wires and in the plane of the latter, a pair of sidemembers each consisting of a pair of inverted generally U-shaped wiremembers only slightly greater in height than the height of the bottlesand having parallel posts and an interconnecting crosspiece, the lowerends of said posts being swingably mounted to said bottom member withthe said members in alignment with the elongated sides thereof, saidlower ends of each of said side members being looped around saidmarginal wires between the end portions to be rotatable about an axisbeneath'and within the plane of the bottles, the posts being disposedadjacent said end portions to prevent shifting of the side members withrespect to said bottom member, said side members being inclinedoutwardly and then inwardly above said lower ends so that saidcrosspieces of said U-shaped members pass over the heads of the bottlesand approach each other for use as a combined handle at a height not inexcess of the height of the bottles within the carriers, a metal sheetconnecting the outwardly inclined portions of said posts of each of saidside members to bear against and tension the bottles within the carrierwhen the side members are in the operative position, said sheets beinglocated to bear along their lower edges against the sides of the bottlesat their broad portions to resiliently hold the bottles together inmutual supporting relationship, and means for locking said side membersin an operative position.

2. A metal carrier for a plurality of narrow necked bottles such asthose employing a crown cap, the combination of a bottom member ofgenerally elongated shape formed of a rigid material, a pair ofupstanding abutment members on each end of the said bottom member forpreventing endwise displacement of the bottles, a pair of side memberseach consisting of an inverted generally U-shaped wire member havingparallel posts and an interconnecting crosspiece, the lower ends of saidposts being swingably mounted to said bottom member in alignment with anelongated side thereof, the said side members being inclined inwardlyabovethe lower ends of said posts so that crosspieces of the saidU-shaped members approach each other for use as a compound handle whenthe sides are in the vertical position, a panel swingably suspended fromthe crosspiece of one of said side members and depending to a pointbetween the side portions of the bottles to separate two parallel rowsof bottles to reduce the tendency of endwise shifting of each of therows of bottles with respect to one another, means projecting outwardlyfrom said crosspiece at substantially a right angle with respect theretoto provide individual compartments for each bottle Within each row,means running horizontally between the legs of each side members forsupporting and exerting tension upon the bottles and the carrier, saidmeans being located to bear against the sides of the bottles at theirbroad base portions to hold the bottles together in mutual supportingrelationship, and means for locking the said side members in anoperative position.

3. In a carrier for holding a plurality of narrow necked bottles such asthose employing a crown cap, the combination of a bottom member having agenerally elongated shape and of a width substantally less than a pairof bottles for whose use the carrier is intended, said bottom membercomprising an outer frame formed of an endless wire piece having anupwardly projecting end portion at each end to serve as abutment membersto prevent endwise displacement of the bottles and having at least onewire piece interconnecting the end portions of the said outer frame tosupport the bottoms of the said bottles, a pair of side members eachconsisting of a pair of inverted generally U-shaped members havingparallel posts and an interconnecting crosspiece, the lower ends of saidposts being swingably mounted to said bottom member in alignment with anelongated side thereof, said lower ends of each of said side membersbeing looped around the said outer frame between the said end portionsthereof andproximate to the end portions to prevent shifting of the sidemembers with respect to the said outer frame, the said side membersbeing inclined outwardly and then inwardly above the said lower ends sothat the crosspieces of the said. U-shaped members approach each otherfor use as a compound handle at a height not in excess of the height ofthe bottles within the carriers, a metal sheet connecting the outwardlyinclined portions of the posts of each of said side members fortensioning the bottles within the carrier when the side members are inthe operative position, said sheets being located to bear along theirlower edges against the sides of the bottles at their broad portions toresiliently hold the bottles together in mutual supporting relationship,means for locking the said side members in an operative position, ametal panel having spaced upwardly projecting arms swingably suspendedfrom a crosspiece of one of said side members and depending to a pointbetween the wide portions of the bottles, and outwardly projecting earsstruck from said panel and disposed at right angles thereto in the areabetween the wide portions of the bottles to separate the bottles and toprevent shifting of the bottles with respect to one another duringhandling.

JULIUS N EMETZ.

